Carl Ribaudo, President of the Strategic Marketing Group, recently led a panel discussion on Sustainable Tourism at the California Rural Tourism Conference held October 7-9 in Yosemite, California. The panel included experts in the area of sustainable tourism including Carl Hasty, Deputy Director of the Tahoe Regional Planning Association, Bob Garrison, an independent consultant, and Terry LeBan, Executive Director of the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority. andquot;The conference was the perfect venue to introduce and discuss the concept of sustainable tourism. The balancing of the needs of the environment with the economic needs of tourism is one that many rural tourism destinations will face in the very near future,andquot; stated Carl Ribaudo. The panel discussed case studies from Hawaii and Lake Tahoe to illustrate the core concepts of sustainability. Overall the session was well received by the standing room only audience which consisted of tourism professionals from rural locations throughout California. The Rural Tourism Conference was sponsored by the California Travel Industry Association. For more information on CALTIA visit
www.caltia.com
